Duval Rights Himself Just in Time

David Duval had started spending his Tucson Chrysler Classic lead the day before, when he finished double-bogey, birdie-bogey, but he still had seven shots to play with when he started Sunday’s round.

And six shots after eight holes.

And no shots seven holes later.

“Any nerves I had up until then were gone on No. 15,” Duval said after his 17-foot chip-in birdie on No. 16 and 35-foot birdie putt on No. 18 created the illusion of an easy four-shot victory over Justin Leonard and David Toms.

“After I bogeyed 14, my thought was now I had nothing to protect,” Duval said. “So I had to go out and try to take it, whereas all day long people were trying to take it from me.”

Duval earned his fourth victory in nine tournaments--best since Nick Price won four of six in 1994--despite shooting one-over-par 73 on Sunday. He finished with a four-day total of 19-under 269.

It was the highest final round by a tournament winner since Billy Mayfair’s three-over 73 that won the 1995 Tour Championship.

Leonard had been six shots behind at the turn, but caught up at 17 under on the 14th hole and shared the lead on No. 15.

Duval bogeyed No. 9 and Leonard birdied, a preview of the drama to come on the back nine.

Toms and Leonard were 16 under through nine holes and made the turn four shots behind.

But Duval birdied No. 10, and Leonard made par and Toms took a double-bogey six.

Duval triple-bogeyed No. 13 when he hooked his tee shot out of bounds by less than a foot. After hitting another drive, Duval knocked his approach shot over the green and three-putted from the fringe.

On the same hole, Leonard made a 10-foot birdie putt.

Leonard caught up on No. 14 with a par to Duval’s bogey from a bunker.

Duval steadied himself by parring the 15th hole, got his two-shot edge back on No. 16 and picked up two more shots on the finishing hole.

“It just shows you how funny this game is and how strange things can happen,” Leonard said. “You know, I got right in the middle of it and, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make the putts down the stretch.”

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Larry Nelson, expected to make a dent in the Senior PGA Tour after he turned 50 last September, finally got a break-through victory with a final-round 70 in the American Express International at Sarasota, Fla.

Nelson finished with a 54-hole total of 13-under-par 203 over the Tournament Players Club at Prestancia course, four shots better than Dave Stockton, who closed with an even-par 72 in winds that gusted to 35 mph and sent scores soaring.

Fifty golfers shot over par, four in the 80s. Raymond Floyd made 11 on the par-five 15th hole when he put three balls in a hazard, and Jack Nicklaus made eight on the same hole.

Tommy Aaron took an eight on the par-three 16th. J.C. Snead was assessed a two-shot penalty after he replaced his ball on the fourth green when wind moved it some five feet away from the hole.

George Archer (70) and Vicente Fernandez (73) finished five shots back at eight under.

Although Nelson won 10 PGA Tour titles, and three major championships, the $180,000 winner’s check is the largest of his professional career.

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Zimbabwe’s Nick Price closed with an even-par 72 for a 12-under 276 and a five-stroke win in the Dimension Data Pro-Am at Sun City, South Africa.

It was his second victory in a row in the tournament.

Mark McNulty, also of Zimbabwe, shot a final-round 73 and finished second at 281. South Africa’s Tjaart van der Merwe was third at 283.

“They set the course up really hard today,” said Price, an eight-shot winner in 1997 with a 268 score. “The rough was brutal. If you missed the fairway, you almost had to accept a bogey.”

The lack of low scores proved the difficult conditions of the Gary Player layout.

Only two players broke 70. Nico van Rensburg of South Africa and Fran Quinn Jr. of the United States each carded a 69, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively.